Another year has come and gone, but the community still feels the impact of Auburn High School's historic Class AA State Championship football victory.

One year ago today, on Nov. 25, 2006, more than 10,000 fans watched Auburn upset defending state champs Monroe-Woodbury at the Carrier Dome in an overtime nail-biter, 27-26.

“The courage that the kids showed on the field even when they were down,” Auburn Mayor Timothy Lattimore said, “was inspirational to the whole city.”

“Woodbury hadn't lost a game in two years,” he said, recalling the opening kickoff return that put Auburn down by six points.

“I thought our young men would be demoralized, but they wouldn't give up. They showed a lot of tenacity.”

“Playing back in 1968, Rome got us down and we never came back,” Lattimore said of his own football days as a “monster back.”

“When the air goes out of a balloon, it's hard to get back,” he said. “As mayor it was a privilege to watch. It pulled the whole city together.”

He said the team injected a positive, can-do attitude into the city, a winning formula. “We went from a championship football team to a championship Penn League baseball team. When you have young men that put their minds to a winning attitude, anything's possible. Having the fans there meant the kids weren't going to be denied.”

“It was an awful big boost for the city of Auburn,” mayor-elect Michael Quill said. “Everyone in the city was talking about it. It's going to live on for a long, long time,” he said, recalling the '50s team that still pops up in conversation. “That's probably because it doesn't happen here all that often. When it does, everyone remembers. It was like watching the (1980 U.S.) Olympic hockey team that went on to beat the Russians.”

Maroon varsity coach David Moskov called the kinship among coaches, kids, and community “a link that comes from who the kids are, their involvement in community service 12 months a year.”

“We had our dings and dents,” Moskov said. “We weren't undefeated. We had issues representative of the community. There was a tremendous sense of being part of the town, a cross-section of the community. It was well beyond football.”

With another season under his belt, the coach's perspective shifted.

“Looking back on it, it was how much fun we had at practice,” he said. “We weren't putting any kind of pressure on ourselves. It was so pure.”

Last year's team really impacted the Auburn football program, Moskov said, with a tremendous jump in participation of 25 to 30 more on the modified team this year.

“We won the division title again,” Moskov said, “the first back-to-back season that we had in 25 years. There was an understanding of what you needed to do.”

“Athletics is a positive force for the community. I'm proud of the athletic department and of (athletic director) Tam Ray,” he said. “Our family loves this community,” Moskov, a Niskayuna, N.Y. native, said. “We're never going to leave.”

Moscov cited the positive effect athletics often has on character and performance in other areas, such as school.

“It's not the answer for every kid,” he said. “You hear negative stories, but people really appreciate the performance equation and graduation rates. Athletics is not a cure-all. It's a very complex issue.”

He credited his assistant coaches, Matt Moskov, Mike Pisarchuk and Don Patchett, with much of the team's success, calling them the most unrecognized group. Previously junior varsity coaches, all were personal friends who got along well. “They created a positive, relaxed atmosphere on the field,” he said.

“Last year was the first year we were all together,” Moskov said. “It was the right combination of strengths, and it all equaled out.”

Next year the coach said the team would stick to the foundations, including the weight room and community service.

“We have a positive relationship with the Baldwinsville football community,” he said. “It's a real interesting dynamic.”

In the spring the kids might break out of the mold and do some interactive work with the Baldwinsville staff and head varsity coach Carl Sanflippo.

“We work together in the off-season,” he said. “It's the only school we've ever played where their fans clap for our team. There's a potential for something great.”

Long-time Auburn High athletics booster Dick Williams said that by winning the state championship the team kept the tradition of having strong football teams alive. Williams, a quarterback on the '48 undefeated Auburn junior varsity team as well as on the varsity team in 1949 and 1950, runs the stadium clock and went to almost all the games.

“They ignited the city and school and they rode the wave. It was a great event for them,” he said. “With all its 10 to 11 thousand students and the community, it's something that I'll probably never see again. It was amazing.”

“It just seemed that it was meant to be, a credit to the city of Auburn and to the parents,” he said. “It just felt so good to see the Auburn football team rising to the top.”

Of this year's team, Williams said, “It's hard to duplicate two or three years in a row. The tradition is still there, and these kids are keeping it up.”

Williams thinks community support for the team has kind of trailed off. “We had 11,000 in the stands,” he said, “but we couldn't get that many people out to vote for the turf.”

Matt Hoey, AHS championship kicker, also thought about what that game meant to Auburn.

“I just think the game gave Auburn a new sense of community pride, something to root for and something to do. Everybody just loves the underdog. It's such a good story.”

Hoey remembered “just watching Jeff Richardson catch the ball (near the end of the game). Without Jeff catching that pass, I wouldn't have had the chance to kick. I knew when it came off my foot that it was good.”

Hoey's Nike football cleats have no place of honor at home. They're humbly “benched” on his porch.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 53-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net